Arthur W. Pink

Every truth that is revealed to us in God’s word is there not only for our information, but also for our inspiration. The Bible has been given to us not to gratify an idle curiosity, but to edify our souls. The sovereignty of God is something more than an abstract principle which explains the rationale of the divine government: it is designed as a motive for godly fear; it is made known to us for the promotion of righteous living; it is revealed in order to bring into subjection our rebellious heart. A true recognition of God’s sovereignty jumbles as nothing else can or does humble. It brings the heart into lowly submission before God, causing us to relinquish our own self-will, and making us delight in the perception and performance of the divine will.

When we speak of the sovereignty of God we mean very much more than the exercise of God’s governmental power, though, or course, that is included in the expression. The sovereignty of God means the Godhood of God. Truly to recognise the sovereignty of God is therefore to gaze upon the Sovereign Himself. It is to come into the presence of the august “Majesty on High”. It is to have a sight of the thrice-holy God in His excellent glory.

Why is it that, today, the masses are so utterly unconcerned about spiritual and eternal things, and that they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? Why is it that even on the battlefields of war multitudes were so indifferent to their souls’ welfare? Why is it that defiance of heaven is becoming more open, more blatant, more daring? The answer is, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Roms. 3:18.) Again; why is it that the authority of the scriptures has been lowered so sadly of late? Why is it that even among those who profess to be the Lord’s people there is so little subjection to His word, and that its precepts are so lightly esteemed and so readily set aside? Ah! what needs to be stressed today is that God is a god to be feared.

Time was when it was the custom to speak of a believer as a “God-fearing man”; that such an appellation has become nearly extinct only serves to indicate whither we have drifted. Nevertheless, it still stands written, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him,” (Ps. 103:13.) When we speak of godly fear, of course, we do not mean a servile fear, such as prevails among the heathen in connection with their gods. No; we mean that spirit which Jehovah is pledged to bless; that spirit to which the prophet referred when he said, “To this man will I (the Lord) look; even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word,” (Isa.66:2.) It was this the apostle had in view when he wrote, “Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king,” (1 Pet. 2:17.) And nothing will foster this godly fear like a recognition of the sovereign Majesty of God.

Here then is the divine antidote for the native evil of our hearts. Naturally, man is filled with a sense of his own importance – with his greatness and self-sufficiency; in a word, with pride and rebellion. But, as we remarked, the great corrective is to behold the mighty God, for this alone will really humble him. Man will glory either in himself or in God. Man will live either to serve and please himself, or he will seek to serve and please the Lord. None can serve two masters.

Irreverence begets disobedience. Said the haughty monarch of Egypt, “Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” (Ex. 5:2.) To Pharaoh, the God of the Hebrews was merely “a” god – one among many – a powerless entity who needed not to be feared or served. How sadly mistaken he was, and how bitterly he had to pay for his mistake he soon discovered. But what we are here seeking to emphasise is that Pharaoh’s defiant spirit was the fruit of irreverence, and this irreverence was the consequences of his ignorance of the majesty and authority of the divine Being. Now if irreverence begets disobedience, true reverence will produce and promote obedience. Once the Sovereignty of the author of the word is apprehended, it will no longer be a matter of picking and choosing from the precepts and statutes of that word – selecting those that meet with our approval; but it will be seen that nothing less than an unqualified and wholehearted submission is becoming the creature.

From The Wicket Gate Magazine, published in the UK, used with permission.